Feminine wearing apparel



March 15, 1960 E. L. O'DELL 2,928,396

FEMININE WEARING APPAREL Fild July' 18, 1958 IN V EN TOR.

E HEL L. ODELL r 2,928,396 1C Patented Mar. 15, 195

FEMININE WEARING APPAREL Ethel L. ODell, Skykomish, Wash. Application July 18, 1958, Serial No. 749,462 1 Claim. (Cl. 128-454) This invention relates to feminine wearing apparel and, more particularly to an article to be worn over a brassiere and adapted to provide immediate access for nursing a child.

It has long been a common problem with mothers who are nursing a child to be unable to wear a sweater or a sheer outer garment because of the unsightly or bulky appearance of the nursing brassiere. It is natural that during hot weather such light weight outer garments would be welcome. If the ordinary slip is used in conjunction with a nursing brassiere, it restricts access to the breasts and considerable disrobing is required. This is often embarrassing, as well as tedious.

It is the intention of my invention to alleviate and avoid these difficulties by providing a well designed garment to cover the nursing brassiere; which can be permitted to be seen through an outer garment; which has no sharp edges to disrupt the contour of an outer garment; and which will allow continued easy access to the nursing brassiere.

There are times a mother wishes to rest during the nursing operation and it is undesirable to leave herself exposed or to make the necessary rearrangements of underclothes each time. With my invention the cupped breast cov ing flap may easily be unfolded to normal disposition hus overcoming this difiiculty. U

These advantages are immediately apparent in the accompanying illustrations. Like characters of reference denote like parts throughout the ditferent views of the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my wearing apparel as worn in the manner of a slip;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the upper part of a slip;

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross section taken on line 33 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a detailed front fragmentary view of the left breast flap.

Referring now to the drawing generally, it will be seen that my invention may be incorporated into a slip having a skirt and a breast covering portion 12 which is supported by shoulder straps 14, 14. More particularly the wearing apparel comprises the front band 16 which traverses the wearers body in front beneath the breasts.

A substantially T-shaped yoke, including leg 18 and arms 20, 20, is provided integral with front band 16. The yoke is located in the middle front of band 16 so that the leg 18 is normally disposed between the wearers breasts and the arms 20, 20 extend laterally outward thereabove. It is preferable that the edges of the yoke and front band be shaped in arcuate form as shown for comfort and attractive appearance.

The garment also includes back panel 22 which is wider than front band 16 and is attached to and extends between the ends of said front band. The back panel is quite conventional in slips and in this construction generally extends across the wearers back from arm pit to arm pit. Thus it will be seen that the ends of front band 16 likewise extend laterally to about the same location where each is stitched at 23 to panel 22.

Each shoulder strap 14 is attached at its forward end to the upper outer extremity of'a yoke arm 20. Adjusting buckles 15 permit the straps to be lengthened or shortened as required.

A breast-covering flap 24 is attached to and extends forwardly from each end of the back panel. Flap 24 has gathers or pleats 26 near its bottom edge so that the flap is cupped to conform to the breast contour. Flap 24 is also stitched at 28 near its upper extremity to yoke arm 20 as can best be seen in Figure 4, it being noted that the stitching extends medially of the garment from the point of attachment of shoulder strap 14. The lower edge of flap 24 is preferably not stitched to band 16 but by means of tack point 30 it is held down to the front band.

By means of the cupping and the described mode of attachment to the yoke, flap 24 may be reversed and outwardly folded back upon itself as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. This exposes the wearers brassiere underneath and permits and facilitates nursing but without disarray of the garment and with avoidance of undesirable exposure.

Flap 24 is of such size and shape that normally, as can be seen in Figure 1, its free edge 32 overlaps the arcuate edge of the yoke so that the presence of an opening underneath is concealed. Flap 24 by being cupped stays in place without requiring fasteners.

It is preferable that the skirt 10, front band 16 and the substantially T-shaped yoke, back panel 22 all be cut from similar opaque cloth so that a uniform all over appearance is presented to view. Of course ornamentation as desired may be included as, for example, lace edging around the free edges of the flaps. All edges are preferably hemmed to tailor the garment and to prevent ravelling.

A nursing mother wearing this garment over a nursing brassiere need only open her blouse or sweater, fold back a flap 24 and she has ready access to the bras'siere. The infant is then presented to the breast through the opening with the surrounding material of the yoke and the flap largely concealing the mothers breast.

It is to be understood that although one embodiment of my invention has been illustrated and described, there are other obvious changes and modifications which may be made but still fall within the scope of the invention. For instance, the tack points may be moved laterally or medially to provide for difference in size of busts. Also since the invention is primarily concerned with the portion heretofore described, the length of the article is arbitrary. The invention may be incorporated in a slip, camisole or any length in between.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

Feminine wearing apparel, comprising: a narrow front band to traverse the body beneath the breasts and including an integral substantially T-shaped upstanding yoke in the front portion, the leg of said yoke being located to be disposed between the wearer's breasts and terminating at the sides with the arms extending laterally outward thereabove; a back panel wider than and connected to and extending between the ends of said front band; a shoulder strap attached to the upper extremity of each yoke arm approximately medially above the breast and joined to the back panel; and a cupped breasteovering flap attached to and extending from each end of the back panel forwardly to overlapping relation to a side of said yoke and overlying said front band,

said fiap bein'g'secured to the adjacent yoke close to but between its 'p0intS' of attachment tothe band and yoke annto provide access to the breast; f

UNITED STATES PATENTS Smith Apr. 20, 1915 Witkower j Dec. 15, 1942 Blocker Sept. 10, 1946 

